Wells IPA

(This post was originally written on October 31st 2010. However it's being posted now. Deal with it.)

Okay, so maybe I'm not in the best state to be reviewing this beer but I'm going to keep that in consideration today as I take my first and final sips. Today being Halloween, last night I was out partying as a priest (my lovely girlfriend Steph as a possessed Reagan from The Exorcist) and I definitely had a lot of interesting beers. However, once I hit the St. Peters Winter Ale , that I was so excited for since it had been a favourite of mine last winter, it was all downhill. Don't worry, I'm not hungover, maybe tired and thirsty. I just had too many good beers and that Winter Ale was too sweet and dark so it practically tarred up my mouth. Once I moved onto the Creemore Springs Urbock I was kinda sick of the taste. Yes, I know, sick of the taste of dark sweet beers. It's just too sticky sometimes and it makes you long for water like you wouldn't believe. This is after four beers though and I'd say that's fair. I'm not giving up on beer! Hence this post.

I think I may have had this IPA before, but it was cheap and I didn't drink it last night so I thought it would be fun to really analyze it tonight. Wells is a pretty good brewery. I've tried the Bombardier and it's quite tasty, but you gotta be into English Ale to really appreciate it. I do definitely like English Ales, but blame it on my father for making me just a wee bit sick of them sometimes.

According to the Wells IPA website it is the leading imported IPA into Canada. Which is strange because I don't know whether that is a good thing or bad thing? Like many things in life, the one that everyone likes is not necessarily the best thing. A lot of fucking people buy Molson shit beer. Do you see what I'm saying? Nickelback has sold billions of albums (not a real statistic). Nickelback. They suck. I also have no idea who these people are that are buying these albums. The only people I know that admit to listening to Nickelback sure as hell download that stuff illegally. However, I know people first hand that proudly buy the beers that are truly the most popular. This is just how it works. So reading that Wells IPA is the leading imported IPA into Canada is not necessarily making me intrigued. It's more or less setting me up for quite possibly a very bland experience. With that being said, I'll try it with an open mind.

It pours pretty heavy into the glass. Definitely a dark amber colour (even though website says light amber). Either way, it looks fairly dark for an amber beer, but not thick or anything. It also smells like an English Ale. So much so that I am instantly reminded of my girlfriends' work - an English Pub called Elephant & Castle. Go figure! Nice carbonation, very tingly. Not a whole lot of flavour, just a bitter aftertaste. I guess that is what they call "hoppy"? It's got such a subtle aftertaste of hops that I can't outright dislike it. However, the beer it kinda reminds me of is Stella Artois (The Most Overrated Beer Of All Time). It's really rocking that English Ale taste though. It's been awhile since I've had the Wells Bombardier (which I remember being better than this) but I'd wager that this IPA is the hoppy version of Bombardier. Just replace the malty taste of a Bombardier with a hoppy bitter after taste. Yeah, I'm disappointed.

It's very smooth and clear, which seems to be the rage these days. Another beer that says on the can "Brewed with Natural Mineral Water". It tastes like that, I suppose, but I fail to see why this is such a desirable quality for a beer. I like the idea of a beer being unfiltered, pure, hearty, full of chunks. Yeah, okay, maybe not chunks, but full of something - not lacking something.

Still, as I gulp more of this, I do see some of its redeeming qualities. If you approach it like an English Ale, it is kind of interesting and goes back smooth. I don't know if I'd recommend this to anyone except for the fact that it is cheap ($1.95) and it is decent as an English Ale with a subtle twist of IPA-ness. (Probably shouldn't say IPA-ness out loud, it sounds really weird.)

65% : It's not bad, it's not great either. For an IPA... okay, just don't even think of it is an IPA and more of just a slightly hoppy English Ale and you'll taste its redeeming qualities. It's also cheap.